


Who's a Good Boy?

by bavariansugarcookie



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, First Meetings, Fluff, Gay Disaster Shiro (Voltron), Kosmo isn't a wolf dog in this AU, M/M, Meet-Cute, Shiro has a black cat named Pippin, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:54:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23125084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bavariansugarcookie/pseuds/bavariansugarcookie
Summary: Shiro makes friends with a neighbor's dog on his daily run. He's always wanted his own dog to take on runs, so this is the next best thing. Too bad he hasn't been able to meet the dog's human yet...
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 43
Kudos: 230





	Who's a Good Boy?

Shiro was on his usual daily run when he heard a dog bark over his running playlist. He popped his ear bud out, looking around for a runaway dog. The dog barked again - from above - and he looked up.

An enormous dog with white around his eyes was looking down at him from a fourth story balcony. The dog wagged its tail and barked again. Shiro grinned and waved. "Hi, buddy!" 

The dog barked and Shiro chuckled. "See ya later, ok?" He popped his ear bud back in and set off on his run again before anyone could see him and think he had lost it.

He started seeing the dog more and more on his runs, except for rainy days, when the balcony door stayed closed. Shiro was glad, even if he did miss seeing his buddy. He'd always wanted a dog he could go running with, but Pippin was a one-pet-household kind of cat, so this was the next best thing.

It did break his heart to walk away - the dog would wag his tail, and Shiro would say, "I wanna come say hi, but I don't know your human! I'm sorry!"

Shiro had met several dogs in the mailroom - Mushu the Shih Tzu, and Cookie the Australian Shepherd mix, and Cheddar the corgi who had _not_ liked him. But he had never seen his buddy there, and it wasn't like he could hang out at the dog walking station to "accidentally" run into the owner. So he settled for his quick chats on his runs.

One day he got stuck at work getting ready for a meeting, so he started his run later than normal. The sun was starting to set, turning the sky a deep purpley-pink, and Shiro breathed in the sticky sweet smell of rain on the breeze.

He looped the block and heard a familiar bark when he turned the corner. "Hey, buddy!" he called, popping out his ear bud. "How's the prettiest boy doing?"

"Not so bad."

Shiro only had a second to wonder if he'd well and truly lost it before he noticed a figure sitting next to the dog, half in shadow.

"Oh my _God_ ," Shiro groaned, hiding his face in his hand. "I'm sorry, I was talking to your dog, I _swear_."

 _I wonder how much tickets to Australia are,_ he thought miserably as he tried to decide whether he should try to salvage the situation or just bolt back to the safety of his own apartment. Bolting was very appealing. At least he could look up tickets to Australia in peace there. But then he heard a chuckle.

He dared to peek through his fingers and saw the dog's human leaving over the railing, and oh _no_ , he really _was_ the prettiest boy. Dark hair, dark eyes, lips quirked up in amusement at Shiro's utter ridiculousness.

"Don't worry, the dog voice tipped me off," he said in a low, raspy voice, and Shiro was so fucked.

He laughed nervously. "Well, that's a relief, I thought I was going to have to flee the country in shame…"

The guy laughed again, reaching down to scratch behind the dog's ears. "No, it's ok, Kosmo obviously likes you, and he's an excellent judge of character."

Shiro perked up. "So your name's Kosmo, huh?"

Kosmo wagged his tail and barked and both humans laughed. Kosmo's human cleared his throat and said, "I'm Keith, by the way."

Shiro waved. "Nice to meet you, Keith. I'm Shiro."

Keith smiled, leaning his hip against the railing. "Do you wanna meet Kosmo in person?"

Shiro beamed. "Yeah, definitely!"

"Ok, I'm in 416, down the hall from the elevator."

"416, got it!" Shiro said, with an embarrassing mock salute. He turned and jogged toward the side entrance, his cheeks on fire. 

He swiped his key fob to let himself into the building and took the stairs two at a time. (The elevators always took way too long.) As he stepped out onto the fourth floor, he suddenly noticed how sweaty he was. It might not be summer yet, but it was humid enough for him to feel vaguely sticky.

But there was nothing he could do about it now, so he walked down to 416 and knocked on the door, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he waited. The door swung open and Kosmo darted out, running in circles around Shiro.

"Hey buddy!" he crooned, dropping to his knees so he could pet Kosmo properly. Kosmo sat in front of him, sniffing at Shiro's metal hand and wagging his tail so hard he almost knocked Shiro off balance. 

"Told you he likes you," Keith said, and Shiro looked up and oh fuck, Keith was even more gorgeous up close.

"Well, he's a good boy," Shiro said. He ruffled Kosmo's ears so he didn't stare too long. "Too bad I haven't seen you around before, huh, buddy?"

"I don't hang out around the building with him too much. People get nervous cause he's so big." Keith frowned, and it was unfairly attractive. "One lady threatened to tell the office I had a banned pit bull."

Shiro's eyebrows shot up. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah. I told her she could shove the vet paperwork saying he's a Great Dane mix right up her ass."

Shiro snorted and Keith grinned. "How could you be mean to this face?" Shiro crooned and Kosmo flipped onto his back, begging for belly rubs. Shiro obliged and Kosmo huffed contentedly. 

"So where do you walk him?" Shiro asked.

"I usually do quick runs at the dog park downstairs, but at night the dog park on the roof is always empty, so we'll go play fetch up there." He bit his lip. "On weekends we'll go run on one of the park trails."

Shiro looked up. "Oh, that must be so fun, I've always wanted a dog to go on runs with!"

"Girlfriend doesn't like dogs?" Keith asked.

Shiro huffed out a laugh. "No. No girlfriend, but my cat definitely doesn't like dogs." Keith snorted, looking relieved, and _that_ was interesting. 

Shiro stood up. "My ex-boyfriend didn't want pets, so when we broke up I got a cat. But she's _very_ uninterested in having siblings, so…" he shrugged. 

Keith swallowed. "Well, you could run with me and Kosmo on Saturday. I-if you wanted," he mumbled, blushing bright pink. "I know Kosmo would love it."

"Yeah?" Shiro smiled. "That would be really nice."

**Author's Note:**

> And they traded numbers and went on tons of weekend runs and 9 months later, when Keith's lease was up, he moved into Shiro's apartment on the 6th floor. Pippin was mad at first, but she slowly warmed up to the idea once she realized Kosmo is prime snuggle material.
> 
> This is probably the most autobiographical fic I've ever written, because one of my neighbors does have a super cute dog that sits on the balcony most afternoons! I've also definitely baby talked a cute dog before I saw their owner, but instead of a meet cute, I just ran away as fast as I could. Yay for turning embarrassing moments into fluff!
> 
> I'm new to Twitter @bavariancookie, so you can come cry with me about Sheith if you want!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed! Writing this helped with some of my stress about the coronavirus, so I hope it was able to brighten up your day at least a little! <3


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